Whole Foods Markets Inc. is increasing its presence in metro Atlanta, buying 15.34 acres for a distribution center in Jackson County, and planning more stores.

Whole Foods, which has two Harry's Farmer's Market stores and five Whole Foods stores in metro Atlanta, is contemplating at least three more stores in the market.

Whole Foods is negotiating with The Sembler Co. to put a grocery store in two of Sembler's projects: Brookhaven Place near Oglethorpe University and a mixed-use project at North Druid Hills and Briarcliff Road, said Jeff Fuqua, president of Sembler.

Each store would be about 50,000 square feet, he said. Sembler built Whole Foods' current Briarcliff store at Briarcliff and Lavista roads, he added.

Whole Foods is also said to be looking at adding a store to Prospect Park in Alpharetta, being developed by Forum Development Group, retail brokers have said.

"We're always looking for new sites," said Whole Foods spokeswoman Darrah Horgan, without specifically naming locations. "But we don't open up stores on every corner."

Nationally, Whole Foods is adding 18 to 20 stores this fiscal year, opening a record six new stores during the quarter, bringing the total of new stores opened to 15 in the past 12 months, said John Mackey, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods, in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That puts Whole Foods on track to open more stores in this fiscal year than it ever has, he said.

To service all the Southeast stores, the Austin, Texas-based organic and natural foods grocery store plans to build a 100,000-square-foot distribution center on Braselton Industrial Boulevard at Georgia 124. The center should be open by fall. Distribution is currently handled out of a 35,000-square-foot former Harry's Farmers Market in Gwinnett County, Horgan said.

"Our distribution facilities are spread out," she said. "The Gwinnett distribution center is on Satellite Boulevard. When we opened the new Duluth store, we turned the [Harry's Farmers Market] into a distribution center."

But the Gwinnett facility ships only produce and flowers to the 15 Southeast stores. The South Distribution Center will house all the produce and much of the frozen foods and grocery/bulk products that Whole Foods Markets sell, along with some of the meat and cheese selections. Five other facilities in the region round out the distribution chain.

The new center will focus on perishables, said Charles "Chuck" Cerankosky, senior research analyst at FTN Midwest Securities Corp. covering food services.

Whole Foods' (Nasdaq: WFMI) high level of perishable sales -- about two-thirds of sales -- is 20 percentage points more than a typical food market, he said.

"It almost dictates you have your own distribution center, especially as you get to a larger metro market," he said.

Most of the 100 employees from the existing Gwinnett distribution center will move to the Braselton facility and 20 new jobs will be added, Horgan said. The estimated economic effect to Braselton is $3 million a year, Horgan said.

Whole Foods entered the Atlanta market in November 2001 when it bought three Harry's Farmer's Market stores, then added its own stores in Midtown, Duluth, Buckhead, Briarcliff and Sandy Springs. It ranks sixth in market share in metro Atlanta with 1.75 percent, according to research by Trade Dimensions, a part of The Nielsen Co. that tracks the supermarket industry.

By comparison, Kroger, with 130 stores, ranks first with 32.08 percent of market share. Wal-Mart Supercenter, with 52 stores, is second with 26.06 percent and Publix, with 140 stores, is third with 22.14 percent.

Trader Joe's, which just entered the Atlanta market in 2006, has five stores and a market share of 0.46 percent.

Whole Foods has continued to build out markets they enter, said Cerankosky. "But it's hard to say what's the right number for a metro area like Atlanta."

Whole Foods increasing its distribution center in the area is probably a good indicator of more stores to come.

"One of the basics of retailing is as you build out a market, you can take more functions in-house that you previously outsourced, which could be distribution," Cerankosky said.